Dual position canopy for underwater crafts

ABSTRACT

A nonwatertight underwater craft capable of carrying a diver wherein the hull has a high silhouette when the diver is sitting and converts to a low silhouette when the diver is in a prone position. The craft has a bubble type canopy that is positioned in an opening on the upper deck. The canopy is hinged connected at its forward end and the diver can rotate the canopy downward into the hull. Behind the canopy is mounted a closure plate that is hinged at its aft end to the hull allowing the plate to rotate forward to a horizontal position whenever the canopy is lowered to close the opening and thereby optimize the streamlining and minimize drag when the canopy is lowered. This invention relates to an underwater craft and, more particularly, to small nonwatertight and flooded underwater crafts that are capable of carrying at least one diver in a wet suit with air tanks and breathing apparatus.

United States Patent [72] Inventor John M. Deslierres Rolling Hills,Calif. [211 App]. No. 864,429 [22] Filed Oct. 7, 1969 [45] Patented Nov.9, 1971 [73] Assignee North American Rockwell Corporation El Segundo,Calif.

[54] DUAL POSITION CANOPY FOR UNDERWATER CRAFTS 4 Claims, 5 DrawingFigs.

[52] U.S.Cl 114/16 A, 244/121 [51 Int. Cl 863g 8/00 [50] Field ofSearch. 115/6.1; 9/1; 114/16 A, 16 R; 296/84;244/129 W, 121

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,108,289 2/1938 Laddon244/121 2,332,158 10/1943 MaGillet a1. 244/121 3,160,133 12/1964 WalkerABSTRACT: A nonwatertight underwater craft capable of carrying a diverwherein the hull has a high silhouette when the diver is sitting andconverts to a low silhouette when the diver is in a prone position. Thecraft has a bubble type canopy that is positioned in an opening on theupper deck The canopy is hinged connected at its forward end and thediver can rotate the canopy downward into the hull. Behind the canopy ismounted a closure plate that is hinged at its aft end to the hullallowing the plate to rotate forward to a horizontal position wheneverthe canopy is lowered to close the opening and thereby optimize thestreamlining and minimize drag when the canopy is lowered.

This invention relates to an underwater craft and, more particularly, tosmall nonwatertight and flooded underwater crafts that are capable ofcarrying at least one diver in a wet suit with air tanks and breathingapparatus.

PATENTEUNnv 9197a 3.618.551

SHEET 2 0F 2 FIG. 4

LLlIIIlIlII/llIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII[III/ INVIz'N'IOR. JOHN M. DESL/ERRESAT TORNE Y DUAL POSITION CANOPY FOR UNDERWATER CRAFTS BACKGROUND OF THEDISCLOSURE Underwater crafts may be classified as either watertight ornonwatertight. Watertight crafts are made rigid and strong to withstandthe water pressure and therefore the streamlining of the hull isinherently fixed. Nonwatertight craft are made light and small toprovide minimum weight and drag so that the operating range with a givenpower supply is optimized. Although a nonwatertight craft gives thediver greater latitude of operation than he would have without thecraft, typical present day crafts require the diver to assume either aprone or a sitting position. Therefore, after relatively long periods ofbeing submersed, the diver becomes cold due to his motionless statebecause wetsuits only retard the conduction of body heat to the waterand, when the body generates less heat, the coldness of the water willpenetrate the wet suit. However, if one attempts to make a craft largeenough for the diver to move around, the drag would have to beincreased.

Therefore an object of this invention is to produce an underwater craftwith minimum drag wherein the diver can move from a sitting to a proneposition and back again at will.

Another object of this invention is to produce a simple, smallunderwater craft wherein the drag is adjustable to accommodate either asitting or prone position of the diver.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS These and other objects and features ofadvantage will become more apparent from the following description ofthe invention and the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. I shows a schematic pictorial view of a typical underwater craftembodying the invention;

FIG. 2 is a plan view of the front portion of the craft in FIG. I with aportion of the canopy broken away to show internal details;

FIG. 3 is an elevation in section of the craft taken on line 3-3 of FIG.2;

FIG. 4 is another section of the craft taken on the same line 3-3 withthe canopy lowered.

FIG. 5 is a section of the craft taken substantially on line 5- 5 inFIG. 2 with the canopy moved to its rear position allowing access to thecraft.

Referring to the drawings, a pictorial schematic of an underwater craftemploying the invention is shown in FIG. 1. The craft has an elongatedhull which may be made of, for example, fiber glass and plastic ormetal. The hull 10 has a rounded bow 11 and a screw 12 at the aft end.Behind the screw 12 are disposed a rudder l4 and a horizontal stabilizerl6 and bow planes 16a at the forward end to provide pitch capability.Forward of the screw 12 is located an engine compartment 17 and a diverscompartment 18 located in front of engine compartment. An opening 13 isformed in the hull 10 for access into the divers compartment 18. Overthis opening 13 is disposed a transparent canopy 19. The canopy 19 isbubble shaped and is made into two sections, a water breaker 21 and acover 22. The two sections make ingress and egress easy for the diver aswill be explained hereinafter. In the bottom of the craft at the forwardend is disposed a transparent plate or window 23 (more clearly shown inFIG. 3).

Canopy 19 is mounted in a novel manner whereby the diver can lower thecanopy into the hull 10 to decrease the drag. The preferred manner inmounting the canopy will now be described. Within the hull 10 arelocated two parallelly disposed rails 31 and 32 (FIG. 2) that are pinconnected by pins 33 at their forward ends to the hull 10. The rails 31and 32 are arched to conform to the shape of the hull 10 as shown. Alinkage is connected to each one of the rails 31 and 32. The linkage,connected to rail 31, includes two arms 35 and 36 (FIG. 3) that arepin-connected together while one end of arm 35 is pin-connected to therail 31 and one end of arm 36 is pinconnected to the hull 10 in asuitable manner. Similarily the linkage, connected to rail 32, includestwo arms 37 and 38 (FIG. 5) pin-connected together and to rail 32 andhull I0. The rails 31 and 32 are preferably channel shaped so that thewater breaker 21 and the cover 22 are preferably slidably mountedthereon with the aid of suitable slides, such as slides 41 shown in FIG.5. Thus, whenever the pair of arms 35 and 36 and the pair of arms 37 and38 are disposed in a straight line, the canopy I9 is in the raisedposition as shown in FIG. 3. The diver has sufficient head room to allowhim to assume a sitting position, and he is able to look out of thecanopy l9. Whenever the pair of arms 35 and 36 and the pair 37 and 38are at an angle to each other, the canopy 19 is in the lowered positionas shown in FIG. 4. The diver must now assume the prone position. Thediver places the canopy 19 in this position (FIG. 4) when he desires toview through the bottom transparent plate 23 because he wants to reducedrag and save power. A suitable stop 44 (FIG. 3) is provided on the hull10 to prevent the canopy 19 from falling when in the raised position,since the arm 36 has been rotated clockwise slightly past dead center"position. A stop 45 prevents the canopy from dropping more than requiredto produce good streamlining (FIG. 4). Arm 38 is provided with stops 44'and 45 (as shown in FIG. 5) which serve similar functions as stops 44and 45. When canopy 19 is in the lowered position, a closure plate 51pivots clockwise, as viewed in FIG. 4, to close the opening formed asshown thereby preserving the streamlining. The closure plate 51 pivotsabout an horizontal axis because one edge thereof is pin-connectedconnected to suitable slides, such as slide 52 (FIG. 3), engaging a rail53. The slide at the other end of plate 51 slides in another rail 54.Rails 53 and 54 are also channel shaped but have stops such as stops 55(FIG. 3) at both ends to that the slides 52 do not readily becomederailed therefrom; as will become apparent hereinafter.

Access into the craft is provided by having two additional rails 61 and62 which are fixed to the hull l0 and disposed in line with therespective rails 31 and 32. The cover 22 can be urged aft so that slides41 thereon pass from rails 31 and 32 into rails 61 and 62 respectivelyas shown in FIG. 5. The closure plate 51 moves aft with the cover 22,but is stopped by stops 55 at the aft end of the rails. When the diverpulls the cover 22 over his head the plate 51 is urged to follow, forexample, by a spring means (not shown). Stops 55 at the forward end ofthe respective rails 53 and 54 keep the plate 51 from becoming derailed.To aid the diver in lowering the canopy l9 suitable levers 65 areprovided on, for example, arms 36 and 38.

From the forthgoing explanation of the invention modifications andchanges therein will become apparent to those skilled in the art.Accordingly, the invention is not limited to the specific detailsdescribed exemplary embodiment but only as indicated by the scope of thefollowing claims:

What is claimed is:

1. An underwater craft comprising:

a hull with an opening formed in the upper deck thereof,

a transparent canopy disposed over said opening,

first means for supporting and mounting said canopy to said hull,

second means disposed on the forward end of said first means formounting said first means to said hull in pivoting relationshiptherewith,

third means for holding said canopy at a first position with respect tosaid hull and at a second position with respect to said hull,

said first means including two spaced parallelly disposed rails,extending fore and aft of said hull, and

said second means including pins mounted to said hull and the forwardend of each of said rails coupled to a respective pin so that each railpivots about the respective pin.

2. The craft of claim I wherein:

said canopy is bubble shape so that the edge thereby is disposedadjacent the edge of the opening when said canopy is in said firstposition and the top of said canopy is a continuation of the fairing ofsaid hull at least at the forward position thereof when said canopy isin said second position, and

a closure plate pivotally mounted to said hull adjacent the aft portionof said opening to complete the fairing of said hull when said canopy isin said second position and pivots upwards when said canopy is in saidfirst position.

3. The craft of claim 1 wherein:

said canopy is bubble shape so that the edge is disposed adjacent theedge of the opening when said canopy is in said first position and thetop of said canopy is a continuation of the fairing of said hull atleast at the forward portion thereof when said canopy is in said secondposition.

a closure plate pivotally mounted to said hull adjacent the aft portionof said opening to complete the fairing of said hull when said canopy isin said second position, and pivots upwards when said canopy is in saidfirst position slides slidably mounted to said rails and fixed to saidcanopy to cause the canopy to slide along said rails,

a pair of second rails fixedly mounted to said hull and disposed in linewith said first mentioned rails so that said slides can be engaged insliding relation with said second rails, and

said closure plate having slides that slidably engage said second rails.

4. An underwater craft comprising:

a hull with an opening formed in the upper deck thereof.

a transparent canopy disposed over said opening,

first means for supporting and mounting said canopy to said hull,

second means disposed on the forward end of said first means formounting said first means to said hull in pivoting relationshiptherewith,

third means for holding said canopy at a first position with respect tosaid hull and at a second position with respect to said hull.

said canopy being bubble shape so that the edge thereby is disposedadjacent the edge of the opening when said canopy is in said firstposition and the top of said canopy is a continuation of the fairing ofsaid hull at least at the forward portion thereof when said canopy is insaid second position. and

a closure plate pivotally mounted to said hull adjacent the aft portionof said opening to complete the fairing of said hull when said canopy isin said second position, and pivots upwards when said canopy is in saidfirst position.

1. An underwater craft comprising: a hull with an opening formed in theupper deck thereof, a transparent canopy disposed over said opening,first means for supporting and mounting said canopy to said hull, secondmeans disposed on the forward end of said first means for mounting saidfirst means to said hull in pivoting relationship therewith, third meansfor holding said canopy at a first position with respect to said hulland at a second position with respect to said hull, said first meansincluding two spaced parallelly disposed rails, extending fore and aftof said hull, and said second means including pins mounted to said hulland the forward end of each of said rails coupled to a respective pin sothat each rail pivots about the respective pin.
 2. The craft of claim 1wherein: said canopy is bubble shape so that the edge thereby isdisposed adjacent the edge of the opening when said canopy is in saidfirst position and the top of said canopy is a continuation of thefairing of said hull at least at the forward position thereof when saidcanopy is in said second position, and a closure plate pivotally mountedto said hull adjacent the aft portion of said opening to complete thefairing of said hull when said canopy is in said second position, andpivots upwards when said canopy is in said first position.
 3. The craftof claim 1 wherein: said canopy is bubble shape so that the edge isdisposed adjacent the edge of the opening when said canopy is in saidfirst position and the top of said canopy is a continuation of thefairing of said hull at least at the forward portion thereof when saidcanopy is in said second position, a closure plate pivotally mounted tosaid hull adjacent the aft portion of said opening to complete thefairing of said hull when said canopy is in said second position, andpivots upwards when said canopy is in said first position, slidesslidably mounted to said rails and fixed to said canopy to cause thecanopy to slide along said rails, a pair of second rails fixedly mountedto said hull and disposed in line with said first mentioned rails sothat said slides can be engaged in sliding relation with said secondrails, and said closure plate having slides that slidably engage saidsecond rails.
 4. An underwater craft comprising: a hull with an openingformed in the upper deck thereof, a transparent canopy disposed oversaid opening, first means for supporting and mounting said canopy tosaid hull, second means disposed on the forward end of said first meansfor mounting said first means to said hull in pivoting relationshiptherewith, third means for holding said canopy at a first position withrespect to said hull and at a second position with respect to said hull,said canopy being bubble shape so that the edge thereby is disposedadjacent the edge of the opening when said canopy is in said firstposition and the top of said canopy is a continuation of the fairing ofsaid hull at least at the forward portion thereof when said canopy is insaid second position, and a closure plate pivotally mounted to said hulladjacent the aft portion of said opening to complete the fairing of saidhull when said canopy is in said second position, and pivots upwardswhen said canopy is in said first position.